


Leatherpetal

by noctiphany



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Curtain Fic, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22237402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noctiphany/pseuds/noctiphany
Summary: In which Tim gives Jason a houseplant and things escalate.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Jason Todd
Comments: 16
Kudos: 644
Collections: Haggly Holidays!





	Leatherpetal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [musicspeakstoo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicspeakstoo/gifts).



The first time Tim realizes it, it’s in the middle of a fight, which he figures is pretty apropos. Tim stops in the middle of all of it, time slowing down, and watches him. Jason moves like liquid silk, his body knowing what to do before he even has time to think, all of it as natural to him as breathing is to anyone else. Tim’s always been jealous of Jason and Dick, how easy these things came to them when he had to spend so much time training and pushing himself, but he can see now as he watches Jason, just how much time he must have put in to perfecting these moves as well, and Tim can’t believe he ever thought otherwise. Everything Jason does is calculated and perfected. He’s always been more competent than anyone has ever given him credit for, even himself. 

Which is lucky for Tim, because while he’s standing there in the center of an all out gang war gazing dreamily at the person he’s had a crush for years, Jason shoves him out of the way before he can take a knife to the jugular.

“Thanks,” Tim says afterward, the two of them catching their breath on a rooftop nearby, after the rest of the gang had already given their reports and headed out. “For, you know.”

“Yeah,” Jason says. “What the fuck happened to you out there? Did you get knocked in the head or what?” 

“Oh,” Tim says, glad that the domino hides most of the blush on his cheeks. “I...saw something, caught my eye.”

“Uh huh,” Jason says, skeptically. “Well some asshole almost caught your throat with a rusty blade, so maybe don’t do that again unless you wanna bleed out on the pavement.” 

“You wouldn’t let me bleed out on the pavement,” Tim says, catolguing every small muscle movement in Jason’s expression, ultimately happy with what he sees. “But I won’t.”

“Yeah,” Jason says, sounding a little thrown off. “Good.” 

He jumps off the roof a moment later, leaving Tim alone with the city, and with his thoughts. 

  
  


: : :

  
  


When Jason moves into his new place - an actual apartment, not a safe house, not some place he’s squatting in, but an actual  _ home _ \- Tim gives him a succulent as a house warming present. It's mostly a joke 

“I don’t know what it’s called,” Tim says. “The lady just said it was hard to kill and since you’re so good at that, I figured it would be best.” 

“Ha fucking ha,” Jason says, taking the little plant with hard, thick greenish-grey leaves from Tim and putting it on a shelf. “I haven’t killed anyone in weeks.”

“Congratulations,” Tim says, deadpan. “Is that how you introduce yourself at meetings? Hi my name is Jason, it’s been three and a half weeks since my last homicide?” 

“This is supposed to be a  _ party _ , no fighting,” Dick says, interrupting them, but the thing is, Jason is grinning. Tim is grinning. They’re not actually trying to fight, this is just how they communicate. It might not be conventional, but it’s what works for them. If he wants to be brave about it, Tim would say it’s almost like flirting. But he doesn’t want to get his hopes up too much. Sarcasm and dry wit is just Jason’s personality, its how he talks to everyone. Tim knows he isn’t special in that regard, so it’s probably nothing. 

As Jason argues with Dick and Roy about something, Tim walks around the place. He remembers overhearing Jason telling Roy that he got it dirt cheap and that it had needed a lot of work, but Tim can't tell at all that it hadn’t always been this nice. He wonders how long ago Jason had actually bought the place, how long he had come here in his spare time and worked to remodel it, turn something broken down and worthless into something amazing, something of his own. 

That's really the part that Tim keeps coming back to. It's impressive, what Jason's apparently done to the place, that he’d spent so much time here, secretly working on it all on his own, but what really stood out for Tim was that Jason had built a home here. In Gotham. He’s had safehouses, places he’s squat in, hovels that he'd move around to every other night, like he didn’t actually want to be there. Like he never wanted to commit to anything. But the fact that he did this, bought a place to call his own, furnished it with books and furniture and a kitchen table, that meant something. Jason's not here because he has to be anymore. He's here because he wants to be.

Tim watches Jason laugh with Roy, shove Dick playfully, and something in his chest tightens. He wishes that he could be as comfortable with Jason as they are. But Tim’s never lived with Jason in a Tamaranean spaceship, he’s never handed down his own legacy to Jason, been someone he could look up to and be jealous of at the same time. No, he and Jason got off on a bit of a rockier start. Jason trying to kill him, for instance. But the thing is, and it might be fucked up, but Tim doesn’t blame him for it. At first, sure. But when Tim had imagined what Jason must have gone through, learning that Bruce had just replaced him, after  _ not _ saving him from the Joker, after not  _ killing _ the Joker, well. He’s not entirely sure he wouldn’t have done the same or worse in that situation. Still, he wishes things could have been different. He wishes he and Jason could have met on better terms. Maybe then it would be easier for him to fit into his life the way Roy and Dick and Kori do, but instead he’s just a constant reminder of all the things Jason's lost. It's a constant reminder for Tim that he'll never be anything more. 

“Hey, I’m gonna head out,” Tim says finally, walking over to the three of them. “Gotta patrol later and I’ve barely slept so I’m gonna grab a little thirty minute nap before. Great place, Jay.”

Jason gives him a funny look, one that Tim might assume was disappointment if he didn’t know for sure that it was just his own wishful thinking, before he turns and leaves. He can hear them all laughing again before he even makes it down the hall. 

  
  


: : :

  
  


Tim knows the only way to stop feeling so sad and awkward around Jason is just to accept the truth and get over it, so for a few months he does his best to keep his distance. It’s the best way, he thinks, to get him out of his system. The idea is that the longer he goes without seeing Jason, maybe it will give his body and brain time to forget about the feelings he has. 

It doesn’t work. 

In January the whole family has to get together to save Bruce’s ass,  _ again, _ and they end up working long hours, staying up all night together, talking and catching up and --

The time apart really didn’t help. Tim’s actually pretty sure it made it  _ worse.  _ Now, even looking at Jason is painful, hearing him talk about what he’s been doing is equal parts hurt and excitement - hurt because he wasn’t there to experience it with him, and excitement because Jason is always so animated when he talks about things that Tim can’t help but be immersed in it, like he  _ had _ been there. 

But he hadn’t. It’s always Roy or Dick or Artemis or someone, just never him. Because he and Jason will just never have that sort of connection. It’s the thing he’s spent the last three months trying to accept and move on from, that some things just can’t be undone, but he clearly hadn’t made much progress. And now Jason is back and here, sitting right across from him, looking as good - no, better - as always, laughing and smiling and its the best thing Tim has seen in months, or maybe his whole life. And god, when did he become such a pathetic love fool idiot, anyway? He’s  _ never _ been like this before. Not even for Steph. Not even for Connor, not like this.

No one’s ever been like Jason. 

The thing Tim’s afraid of, is that no one else ever will be. 

  
  
: : :

  
After they finish rescuing Bruce from what Damian unironically had referred to as Talia's “breeding dungeon”, Tim figures they’ll all just go their separate ways again, as per usual. But Jason, not usually one for socializing when he doesn’t have to, invites them back to his house for beers and, Tim assumes, to laugh their asses off at Bruce being bested by Talia yet again. Damian just scoffs and heads back to the manor, Dick says he actually has something pressing in Bludhaven to get back to, and Tim -- Tim doesn’t have a good excuse, which makes him feel a little pathetic. He doesn’t have a city like Dick. He’s not even Robin anymore, can’t claim Gotham as his to protect like Damian can. Tim is just...a bird in the wind, so to speak. 

“It’s alright,” Tim says. “If you changed your mind, since no one else can come.”

But Jason just gives him that odd look again, then he’s rolling his eyes and pulling on his jacket and saying, “Suit yourself, kid.” 

And Tim almost does, almost convinces himself that Jason doesn’t want him there and that he doesn’t  _ need _ to be there, alone with him, if only for his own sake. But there's no way to miss the disappointment in Jason's tone this time, or the way his shoulders sink. Tim's under no illusion the reaction is for  _ him,  _ specifically, but it's clear Jason was hoping to not go home alone. That, at least, is something Tim can relate to. 

"Well," Tim says. "I should probably check on that plant I gave you anyway. Or see how dead it is, more like."

Jason just flips him off, but then he's tossing Tim the helmet to his bike. So Tim can ride with him back to his place. Tim catches it and his pulse starts to race. 

"I was gonna cook for you, but if you keep being a little bitch you can fend for yourself."

Tim doesn't know how to respond to that, so he just fits the helmet over his head and climbs on the back of the bike when Jason starts it up. As Jason pulls out onto the streets, Tim's heart pounds in his chest. 

_ Jason can cook?  _

  
  


: : : 

  
  


As it turns out, Jason  _ can _ cook. Quite well, actually. And coincidentally, he ends up making enchiladas, one of Tim's favorites. They chat idly while Jason chops up onions and green chiles for his own enchilada sauce and Tim tries not to stare, but Jason, who he's seen break every bone is a man's face with his foot, Jason, who nearly made Gotham City bow at his feet and kiss his boots, is standing in his kitchen with an apron around his waist cooking Tim  _ dinner  _ and it's all just too much. 

Tim excuses himself to the bathroom while Jason is stuffing the tortillas with filling just to have a chance to breathe. But it doesn't work. On his way to the bathroom, Tim sees the plant he'd given Jason months ago, still on the shelf he'd put it on after Tim had handed it to him. Only, its in a much bigger container now, surrounded by a half a dozen other succulents, some thick and tough, some bright green and wirey, one a pale pink that looks almost like it has grapes hanging from it. Jason has grown an entire succulent garden and at the center of it is the plant Tim had given him, not from dead, but alive and thriving. 

"Oh," Tim says, softly. He turns around and Jason is standing there, ridiculous apron still tied around his waist. "Jay?" 

It's a question, but one that Tim can't quite find the words for. Luckily, Jason seems to know anyway. 

"I mean," he says reaching back and scratching his head. "Yeah? I just. I didn't think you would want -" 

Tim doesn't want to hear the very  _ stupid,  _ very ridiculous things Jason is about to say, so - 

He kisses him. Years of longing, of pining, and sometimes Tim thought because of that, nothing would ever be able to live up to his fantasies. But he's so glad to know he'd been wrong. So, so wrong. And when Jason touched his jaw, when Jason kisses him  _ back -  _ it's even better than anything Tim could have imagined. Jason's soft, patient, nothing Tim had expected him to be, but as soon as it happened, he didn't know why he had expected anything less. Jason kisses him with hesitation, with a kind of carefulness that frustrates Tim until he just grabs Jason and deepens it on his own. 

They don't stop until the smoke alarm goes off, the enchiladas forgotten and burnt black. And then, they move it to the bedroom. Dinner can wait.

Tim's waited long enough. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
